I was thinking about how I might describe what I was feeling while observing the electoral process in the United States.
Have you ever been in a situation, perhaps during some long meeting or reception, where your body was soundlessly shouting about a basic urgent need numbered two, but due to excessive politeness or importance of the moment you decide to keep everything inside and just pray that the event terminate forthwith?
Has it also happened that after all this, at the end you manage to escape to the loo, and then amazingly the offending object just refuses to make an appearance after all, and feel a frustration like no other?
I think this is the most precise metaphor I can find, when looking at the President of the largest world economy, the United States of America, Donald Trump, his actions, words and attitude during this election, which is not only for President, but also for part of the Senate, all Congress and some state governors.
It is clear that his attacks against postal voting, and his continuous messages about COVID-19 not being so serious, whose fight has been substantially won and there not being a need for precautions, have led Republican voters to overwhelmingly vote on the day of the election.
What happened was that after the day of the election, in many states the first votes counted were those case on the day of the election, and these gave the impression of a very good situation for Republicans and also for Trump, who in fact went better than was thought and expected.
Nevertheless, when counting continued on postal votes, the situation started to change slowly. The reason why the counting of postal votes was taking more time than other votes is that the votes need to be extracted one by one form the envelope (in one state, the vote is in an envelope which is itself in another envelope), then depending upon the laws in each state, it can be mandatory to authenticate a signature on the envelope and the postmark.
Therefore, with time, the difference of votes in states that were known to be crucial to determine the presidency, that is Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia, started moving away from Trump and towards Biden, with a few at the time of writing flipping to the other side.
Upon seeing this, President Trump started shouting without proof that a fraud was being committed, and demanded that vote counts be stopped or be redone, and is opening court cases in crucial states for him to make this happen. He said he intends, if his objectives are not met, that this fight keep going up to the American Supreme Court. It is clear he thinks that since he managed to appoint three conservative judges in this Court, these would vote in a partisan way in his favour. Such is this man’s justice model, one for all the world.
You can see why some members of the Republican party have grown quiet and are hardly seen with him during his donkey brays. This is nothing more than the actions of an autocrat whose time has come.
From my side, now that the result of Trumps thrashing is clear, I can heartily say “thank God”!
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Kont qiegħed naħseb kif nista' niddeskrivi x'qed inħoss waqt li nosserva l-proċess elettorali fl-Istati Uniti.
Qatt kontu f'sitwazzjoni, forsi waqt xi laqgħa twila, jew riċeviment, fejn tħossu l-ġisem jgħajjat mingħajr kliem li għandu bżonn pjuttost urġenti b'timbru numru tnejn, imma minħabba l-kirjanza jew l-importanza tal-mument tiddeċiedi li żżomm kollox ġewwa u biss titlob li l-avveniment jieqaf kemm jista' jkun malajr?
Ġieli ġralkom li wara dan kollu, fl-aħħar jirnexxilek taħrab u ssib il-kamra l-baxxa, imbagħad ħaġa tal-iskantament issib li l-balla ma tridx toħroġ wara kollox, u tħoss frustrazzjoni liema bħalha?
Naħseb li din hija l-iktar metafora preċiża li nista' nsib, meta nħares lejn il-President tal-ikbar ekonomija tad-dinja, l-Istati Uniti tal-Amerika, Donald Trump, l-aġir, it-taħdit u l-attitudni tiegħu waqt din l-elezzjoni li mhix biss għall-President, imma anke għal parti mis-Senat, il-Kungress kollu u gvernaturi f'xi stati.
Huwa ċar li l-attakki tiegħu kontra l-ivvutar bil-posta, u l-messaġġi kontinwi li l-problema COVID-19 mhix daqshekk serja, li l-ġlieda kontriha sostanzjalment mirbuħa u li m'hemmx bżonn ta' prekawzjonijiet, wasslu lill-votanti Repubblikani biex jivvutaw bi ħġarhom fil-ġurnata tal-elezzjoni.
Li ġara kien li wara l-ġurnata tal-elezzjoni, f'ħafna stati l-ewwel li ġew magħduda kienu l-voti li ntefgħu fil-ġurnata tal-elezzjoni, u dawn taw impressjoni ta' sitwazzjoni tajba ħafna għar-Repubblikani u wkoll għal Trump, li fil-fatt mar aħjar milli kien maħsub u mbassar.
Madankollu, meta l-għadd tkompla fuq il-voti li ntefgħu bil-posta, is-sitwazzjoni bdiet tinbidel bil-mod il-mod. Ir-raġuni li l-għadd tal-voti bil-posta qiegħed jieħu iktar ħin mill-voti l-oħra hija li l-voti jridu jinħarġu wieħed wieħed mill-envelop (fi stat minnhom, saħansitra l-vot ikun ġo envelop li huwa stess ikun ġo envelop ieħor), imbagħad jiddependi fuq il-liġijiet ta' kull stat, jista' jkun mandatorju li tiġi awtentikata firma li tkun fuq l-envelop u t-timbru tal-posta.
Allura, mal-ħin, id-differenza ta' voti fi stati li kienu magħrufin li jistgħu jiddeterminaw il-presidenza, jiġifieri Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, North Carolina u Georgia, bdew jitbiegħdu minn Trump u jersqu lejn Biden, b'uħud fil-ħin tal-kitba jaqilbu għan-naħa l-oħra.
Meta ra dan, il-President Trump ħareġ jgħajjat mingħajr provi li qiegħed isir frodi, talab li jitwaqqaf l-għadd tal-voti jew jerġa’ jsir l-għadd, u qed jiftaħ każijiet fil-qrati tal-istati kruċjali għalih biex isir dan. Huwa qal li beħsiebu, jekk ma jiħux dak li jrid, li din il-ġlieda tibqa' tiela' sal-Qorti Suprema Amerikana. Huwa ċar li jaħseb li ladarba rnexxielu jaħtar tliet imħallfin konservattivi f'din il-Qorti, dawn jivvutaw b'mod partiġġjan favurih. Dak huwa l-mudell ta' ġustizzja ta' dan il-bniedem, mudell għad-dinja kollha.
Mhux ta' b'xejn li anke membri tal-Partit Repubblikan saru pjuttost kwieti u bilkemm jidhru miegħu meta jagħmel il-ħanqiet ta' ħmar tiegħu. Dan mhu xejn ħlief aġir ta' awtokratu li wasal fi żmien il-kontijiet.
Min-naħa tiegħi, issa li r-riżultat tat-tkaxkira ta' Trump huwa ċar, nista' nlissen bil-qalb “għall-erwieħ”!
1https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/minuscule-number-of-potentially-fraudulent-ballots-in-states-with-universal-mail-voting-undercuts-trump-claims-about-election-risks/2020/06/08/1e78aa26-a5c5-11ea-bb20-ebf0921f3bbd_story.html, retrieved 6/11/2020
2https://www.businessinsider.com.au/donald-trump-early-voting-florida-presidential-election-2020-10?r=US&IR=T, retrieved 7/11/2020
3https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html, retrieved 6/11/2020
4https://www.health.gov.au/news/health-alerts/novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov-health-alert/coronavirus-covid-19-current-situation-and-case-numbers, retrieved 6/11/2020
1https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/minuscule-number-of-potentially-fraudulent-ballots-in-states-with-universal-mail-voting-undercuts-trump-claims-about-election-risks/2020/06/08/1e78aa26-a5c5-11ea-bb20-ebf0921f3bbd_story.html, retrieved 6/11/2020
2https://www.businessinsider.com.au/donald-trump-early-voting-florida-presidential-election-2020-10?r=US&IR=T, retrieved 7/11/2020
3https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html, retrieved 6/11/2020
4https://www.health.gov.au/news/health-alerts/novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov-health-alert/coronavirus-covid-19-current-situation-and-case-numbers, retrieved 6/11/2020
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